News

Soun: RCCG Pastor Promises To Embrace 3 Religion As He Becomes Chosen Oba

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2022

AS the selection of Prince Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye, a Pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, as the new Soun of Ogbomoso land continues to generate controversy, the Head of the kingmakers in Ogbomoso, High Chief Sobaloju Otolorin, weekend, cleared the air, affirming that Olaoye is the next king of the ancient town.

He dismissed the claim by the Laoye Ruling House that the family had not selected anybody to fill the vacant stool, asserting that due process was followed in the selection of the crown prince.

Otolorin, who is also the Aare Ago of Ogbomoso, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Ogbomoso.

The Head of the Kingmakers said what was being insinuated in regards to the selection of Olaoye was far from the truth.

He, however, said he had promised, during the selection and interview exercise, to embrace the three religions, namely: Traditional, Christianity and Islam.

It would be recalled that the Chairman of the Screening Committee for the Laoye ruling house, Alhaji Abdulwahab Laoye, last Thursday, disclosed that the family had not selected anybody, and therefore, called on the public to disregard what he termed as a rumour.

Oba Jimoh Oyewumi, the late Soun of Ogbomoso, joined his ancestors, on Sunday, December 12, 2021, hence the need to select the new king among the 23 candidates to fill the vacant stool.

Otolorin, while speaking further said many factors were put into consideration before a name was arrived at, insisting that no kingmaker collected bribes from any candidate and that the kingmakers acted in the best interest of the town.

He pointed out that Prince Ghandi’s name was on the list of the 23 proposed by his family, noting that the denial now was a surprise.

The head of the kingmakers emphasized that neither religion nor bribery played any role in the selection, adding that it was not within the purview of any ruling house to screen out any candidate but to present to the kingmakers whoever showed interest.

Otolorin said what the family could have done was to encourage the aspirants to step down for each other before it got to the kingmakers, affirming that the family had no legal right to screen out any candidate except on a valid reason like maybe he is not a true born of the family or he has a deformity.

“The problem began when all members of their so-called screening committee put the names of their children and nephews forward, because of that they couldn’t resolve it.

“For instance, their Mogaji had three nominees, the family secretary had his child, another family head called Cashman had his nominee, and one Alhaji Wahab (Chairman of their screening committee) had his own, every one of them. That is why they couldn’t resolve it.

“So, they had 23 names which they brought to us and we asked them if all of them are eligible and they said yes, that was why they sold forms to all of them.

“They forwarded the names to the local government in accordance with the law and the council sent the list to us which we consequently considered with local government officers as observers.

“That is where the assignment of the family ends. We invited them one by one to interview them and we found useful information furnished by the family on each of them.

“The first question we threw at them is that you knew there was more than one religion being practised in Ogbomoso- Traditional, Christianity and Islam, whether they were ready to embrace the three religions. Each of them said yes.

“We also told them it was not a matter of saying l have N10 million in my account, it is beyond that. In the first place, the palace is now empty you have to replace everything from furniture to the last thing.

“In addition, we informed them there were many court cases pending, the burden of which you would shoulder for years, we let each of them know, that whoever would rise to the throne would have to be adequately prepared for the financial burden.

“Furthermore, there are staff in the palace, most of whom are not being paid by the government but by the late Oba. So, we told them this was an additional responsibility and they all agreed, yes.

“We further told them that on Fridays, members of the royal families and others did come to the palace to be feted by the late Oba that there won’t be government assistance. All this is documented by the local government officers who sat as observers.

“We now went through their CVs and seriously considered, who had the wherewithal to step into the gigantic shoes, we considered their profiles meticulously, this is not a matter of saying l am a pensioner.

“However, before this time, their screening committee members and other clans’ heads were trying to approach us to seek undue advantage for their preferred candidate. I was ready to swear with the Bible that Ghandi never came here. l never knew him. I spoke to him for the first time on the day of the interview and he even used a face mask.

“Though, on the day we held the eighth-day Fidau of late Baba Soun also came and some people pointed to him that was another eligible prince but he also used a face mask.

“And then he came with former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he came to pay a condolence visit on the demise of the late Oba and again he used a face mask, so I never knew him.

“I am saying categorically that what we did was not based on religion, if a Babalawo had the best profile we would have chosen him. We need someone who is capable financially and who has impressive clout, someone who will not be taken for granted in the comity of Obas, Ogbomoso is beyond that, we need someone who can hold his own among other Obas.

“Then they talked about the issue of Abese not voting. He caused it, personally, l didn’t know the government did not recognize him, he had not gotten approval since 2019. I didn’t know until now when the government said he could not sit with us because he is not recognized.

“I protested but they brought out the vouchers from 2019 and l saw “X” consistently marked against his name, implying he was not paid. They said if he was not recognized by the government, why would he be paid?

“So, l pleaded he should be allowed to sit as an observer along with the Iyalode who is not statutorily qualified to vote. They were allowed. So, we chose whom we chose and on the second day, we forwarded the name to the state government. It is now left in the hand of the government, we are through with our own assignment too.

“I now heard they are holding meetings they would come and burn my house, let them come. They tried to bribe us but we rebuffed them, we don’t need their money we will do what is right, we told them. If an Oba is crowned and he deems it fit to do anything for us we will be obliged to take it but not to be induced financially.

“We don’t want a situation where we won’t be able to check the Oba if he starts to indulge in excesses after his coronation because we had collected bribes. That is why we turned down their advances.

“We had chosen in the best interest of Ogbomosoland. They now went to hold a press conference, which is of no consequence. No ruling house has power in law to screen any aspirant, what they can do is to cajole, appeal and encourage their princes to step down for one another they can’t screen them.

“It is only the kingmakers that have the power to screen. And that we have done and submitted the name to the governor.

“They can say whatever they like, it is water under the bridge. If we collected money, would l be free to sit comfortably in my home like this? I didn’t collect money from anyone, it is an unfounded rumour.

“Let me repeat this, all the Laoye clans’ heads, came individually to solicit for their children and we did not oblige them. Ask them. And they all promised to abide by the outcome.

“Now they are saying Gandhi is not their child. You put together 23 names and his name was number 13, you sold the form to him and you interviewed him at the Town Hall. And you are now saying you don’t know him. Yet, his father contested the throne in the past though you didn’t support him.

“I just knew his father and l were together on the Board of Directors of the Ogbomoso Community Bank, he (Prince Oladunni Olaoye) was made the Chairman of the board after Alata left. It is some of them told me recently that that was his father, just recently, it is the same people that are now saying he is not of their family again. Everything is in the hands of God, if anyone says Balogun would not sit with us we would have said it’s not possible.

“I told them if you chose someone not financially capable l won’t contribute a kobo if asked to. How will an Oba ask me to make contributions? That is the truth l will not lie, l am a Catholic.

“What money would you take that you won’t be able to sleep because of a guilty conscience? What we need is a worthy Oba and it is what we did. The other capable person, Lawyer Oyetunde, his Yoruba is not fluent, you will think that it is a Ghanaian that is talking but based on his profile he is capable too.” He explained.

VANGUARD

Related Topics:new Soun RCCG Pastor Soun of Ogbomoso

Up Next

‘Anti-govt’ Sermon: Outrage Over Abuja Imam’s Suspension

Don't Miss

Row Over Nigerian Movie, Pope Kicks

Comments

News

OPINION: Ezekwesili, The NBA, And The Mirror Of Truth

Published

1 hour ago

August 27, 2025

Editor

The air inside the hall was thick with expectation. Learned silks in flowing robes, young wigs eager to impress, and the weight of tradition hung over the Nigerian Bar Association’s 2025 Conference. It was meant to be another gathering where speeches would be given, pleasantries exchanged, and resolutions filed away into dusty archives. But then, like a stone thrown into a still pond, Oby Ezekwesili rose, and the hall shifted.

Her words did not flatter. They struck with the urgency of a fire alarm in the middle of the night. She asked the lawyers, the guardians of the nation’s constitution, to look into the mirror. Not to admire the silk of their gowns or the polish of their titles, but to examine the log in their own eyes. For too long, she said, they had been arbiters who excused their own failings while pointing at the speck in others.

It was not a comfortable charge. Lawyers shifted in their seats. Some frowned. Some applauded. But the truth was laid bare: the Nigerian legal profession, once the conscience of society, has too often dropped the ball.

Think of the 2023 elections, where brazen infractions were documented, yet the courts delivered rulings that raised more questions than answers. Or the endless adjournments that have turned justice into a waiting game, eroding faith in the very system lawyers swore to uphold. Think of the silence of many senior advocates when judicial corruption is whispered about, as though the temple of justice can stand while its pillars are rotting.

Ezekwesili’s charge was not merely to critique. It was a trumpet call. She asked them to confront the truth that Nigeria is where it is today because those who should have drawn the lines of accountability too often chose convenience over courage. Lawyers were once in the vanguard of change: the Gani Fawehinmis, the Alao-Aka-Bashors, the Akinola Agudases. Their names are etched in our collective memory because they fought when it was costly. But where is that spirit now?

The metaphor of the mirror is haunting. For what is a mirror if not a silent witness? It does not flatter or deceive. It simply reflects. The Nigerian Bar Association cannot continue as though it is an observer of the nation’s decline; it must admit that its silence, its compromises, its complicity have helped fertilize the soil of Nigeria’s failures.

And yet, in Ezekwesili’s provocation lies a possibility. To look into the mirror is not merely to mourn, but to begin again. To reclaim the nobility of the law not as a profession of prestige, but as a calling of service. To recover the conscience that once made lawyers the voice of the voiceless.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: [OPINION] BUHARI: The Man Who Missed Redemption

This is not about throwing stones at others. It is about removing the log in one’s own eye. For until the Bar confronts itself, it cannot hope to help Nigeria see clearly.

The question then lingers beyond the echoes of that hall: when next the mirror is held up, will the Nigerian Bar Association be able to stand and say, “We did not look away”?

News

Edo Hospital Denies Complexity In Death Of Twin Babies

Published

18 hours ago

August 26, 2025

Editor

Management of the Med-Vical Medical Centre in Benin City, has denied allegations of medical negligence, secrecy and incompetence in the handling of the very ill extreme pre-term twin babies referred from another facility to them.

Med-Vical Medical Centre is specialized in paediatric and neonatal intensive care services with state of the art facilities for respiratory care and life support

The pre-term babies died on separate days at the neo-natal intensive care centre.

Parents of the babies, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Sylvester had petitioned the Police calling for discreet investigation into the death of their babies.

They accused the hospital of taking one of the babies to the mortuary without informing them.

But the hospital said the babies were delivered pre-term in another hospital, but subsequently referred from a second private hospital to our facility at about 9pm on July 9th.

The Consultant Paediatrician/Neonatologist of the hospital, Dr. Enato Gertrude said she received the babies who were in a critical condition and diagnosed them to have severe prematurity, severe respiratory distress syndrome, severe neo-natal sepsis and peri-natal asphyxia.

Dr. Enato said despite the fact that the parents of the babies could not provide 50 percent of what was needed to start treatment, they commenced treatment in a race to save the babies.

She said the parents were counseled, informed and their consent sought on every step taken to treat the babies.

Dr. Enato said the first twin died after eight days of being admitted at the facility, while the second one died after three weeks.

According to her, “I wasn’t there at the delivery. I don’t know what transpired. I don’t know everything that happened until they got to our facility which was several hours after the children were born, because they came into our facility very ill.

“When the children came, we diagnosed them and put the babies on the machine and started treatment, there is a minimum deposit that is supposed to be paid. The babies needed tubings, surfactants and caffeine citrate, which are expensive. They are not even readily available over the counter.

“They’re actually specially ordered, specially packaged, and cold chain must be maintained with them. And they are quite expensive. I don’t produce them. I buy them to use for the babies. And it’s supposed to help these babies. So at this point, the parents didn’t have enough money for all of this. I think the father had less than 50% of the money because he said he couldn’t get the money at that time.

“He came to meet me and I just told the billing officer not to bother them, let’s attend to these babies first, collect what he had. So I think then he had just 250,000 or so for each baby. But we were not focusing on the money. We just needed to save the lives of the babies of which we continued the care.

“We placed both babies on the machine and we continued to give antibiotics and oxygen therapy. And at a point, we noticed that the respiratory distress was not getting better and we informed the parents.

“while on admission we noticed the babies had thrombocytopenia (low platelets) and immediately we told the parents to get what they call platelets. Due to the severe sepsis, we also requested for blood culture.

“At a point on day eight, we noticed that the thrombocytopenia for baby two was not getting better despite all that we had done. A diagnosis of severe neonatal sepsis with multiple organ dysfunction and disseminated intravascular coagulation was made.

“So we called the parents and counselled them that we needed to put the baby on the ventilator for complete life support but at this time the baby was bleeding from thrombocytopenia and we carried the parents along. They saw what happened. Despite all our resuscitation efforts for the baby, the baby succumbed to the illness. The father wasn’t happy after we explained everything to him. It was quite painful at that time for everybody.

“Following the passing of the first twin, the father became hostile and we tried to counsel him but he was difficult to get him to calm down. We even suggested referring the second twin to UBTH, but he quickly declined and pleaded for treatment to continue, as they had no where else they preferred to go to.

“We did a lot for these babies to ensure that the second baby continued to live but two weeks after the passing of the first baby, we noticed bleeding continued for the second one despite blood transfusion with platelets administration, and the baby needed a mechanical ventilator (life support).

“We counseled the mother and told the mother that at this point that the baby had poor prognosis. Chances of survival was slim and she said yes that we should continue to do everything she has faith that the baby will survive.

“On wednesday we saw a little bit of improvement but it declined again and the baby had to be continued on mechanical ventilator life support, but the baby succumbed to the illness.”

She said the parents were contacted, the mother came to see the corpse of the child, she left and didn’t return.

“Due to the delay in claiming the corpse after 12 hours of demise and after several attempts to reach the father to no avail, we decided to take the corpse to the mortuary. We never denied the parents access to their child’s corpse.”

The hospital further added that they are committed to transparency and accountability in their operations adding that at Med Vical Medical Centre, patients safety and well-being are top priorities as they strive to provide highest quality care.

News

OPINION: A Voyage To Caligula’s Rome

Published

20 hours ago

August 26, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

Rome’s history offers timeless lessons for all nations to jealously guard their freedom. Consider one of its emperors, Caligula: Born Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, he reigned from AD 37 to AD 41. Known as Little Boots, Caligula’s four-year reign epitomised tyranny.

Albert Camus captured his ruthlessness in his 1938 play “Caligula”, while Stephen Dando-Collins’ 2019 book, “Caligula: The Mad Emperor of Rome”, and Kate Zusmann’s article, “Roman Emperor Caligula: The Mad Tyrant of Rome”, give vivid portraits of his excesses.

Zusmann wrote: “Caligula’s reign lasted only four years, but his cruel and unpredictable behavior earned him a reputation as one of the most notorious emperors in Roman history… He engaged in construction projects to emphasize his power and divine status. He humiliated senators by forcing them into menial tasks or public spectacles.”

Though he initially presented himself as a noble leader, he soon became Rome’s worst emperor. He wielded taxation and reckless spending as weapons of control.

One account records: “Caligula squandered 2.7 billion sesterces in his first year and addressed the deficit by confiscating estates, levying fines, and even imposing the death penalty to seize wealth. He crippled the Roman Senate in the process.”

Freed from opposition, he built an extravagant bridge at Baiae and introduced crippling taxes on everything, taverns, artisans, slaves, food, litigation, weddings, even prostitutes and their pimps. Taxes doubled in just four years, leaving ordinary Romans broken and resentful.

Is this not eerily familiar? In some places in Nigeria today, task force agents harass even mourners transporting corpses. They must pay the State.

Caligula’s Rome is a warning. When opposition disappears, tyranny grows unchecked, and taxation becomes limitless. Nigeria is already on that path.

Read this report: “It was gathered that governors on the shopping list of the APC include the Enugu State governor, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, Plateau State governor, Caleb Muftwang and the Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Dauda Lawal.”

That was how the Nigerian Tribune concluded its lead story on page five of its Monday, August 25, 2025, edition, titled: “Tension grips PDP leaders as APC targets more govs.” Two riders followed: “South-East, South-South, North-Central govs on shopping list” and “Tinubu to receive another PDP gov on arrival.”

An average student of Nigeria’s political history should be deeply troubled by this report. The concern is not just the well-known fact that Nigeria’s political elite rarely show fidelity to principles, loyalty, or decency, but rather the imminent danger this trend poses to the survival of democracy and to the ordinary masses.

We must ask ourselves: what awaits the common man if Nigeria slides into a one-party state? Can the current wielder of power – the architect of this emerging no-opposition order – truly manage such a system? If today, under the pretense of multiparty democracy, impunity has already reached its peak, what happens when there is no one left to challenge those in power?

History warns us that we are about to repeat our mistakes. Nigeria has a peculiar habit of forgetting her sordid past. Some call it resilience; I disagree. What we parade as resilience is actually a battered psyche. Nigerians have been beaten into submission by those who weaponized poverty. With crumbs thrown here and there, leaders get away with political robbery. We have been conquered.

The sages warned us that thunder must not be allowed to strike twice in the same place. Their reasoning was simple: if bad history repeats itself, its second coming will be catastrophic – so tragic that no one will have the words to describe it.

That Nigeria is gradually sliding into a one-party state should raise an alarm. Euphemism has no place here. A one-party Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an invitation to disaster. The consequences will not stop with the opposition; even those within the president’s inner circle will eventually taste the venom. Tyrants spare no one—not even their favourites. We are headed down that perilous road.

Make no mistake: a one-party state will kill this democracy. It has happened before—not once, but twice. Some of us lived through it, others read about it. Nigeria lost two republics because those in power chose tyranny and crushed opposition.

The First Republic collapsed when the ruling Northern People’s Congress (NPC) attempted to monopolise political power. It formed alliances, coerced defections, and silenced dissent. Opposition leaders were detained on trumped-up charges. Resistance sparked the violent Operation Wetie in Western Nigeria in 1962. By January 15, 1966, the First Republic was dead.

What followed were the January and July 1966 coups, and then a 30-month civil war that consumed over two million lives. Yet we learnt nothing. When the chance came again in 1979, we squandered it.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: KWAM1, KWAM2’ And Their Holy Water

By mid-1982, the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had perfected its plan to decimate opposition. It swallowed the PRP in Kano and Kaduna, captured the NPP in old Anambra, and went after the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Oyo and Bendel fell to its onslaught, while only Ondo resisted—and that resistance produced bloodshed. By December 1983, the Second Republic collapsed, swept away by the military coup of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari. For the next 16 years, Nigeria was under the jackboot.

Whichever way we spin it, the truth is clear: the destruction of opposition in both the First and Second Republics laid the foundation for their collapse.

Those who defend the current defections as freedom of association miss the point. We are not disputing that right. What we warn against is the danger of acquiescing while political and economic power concentrate in the hands of one man. As Aesop warned: “Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.”

Those who think they can collaborate with the ruling party, pledging loyalty in opposition but serving power in secret, should think again. When tyranny consumes a nation, no one is spared. As the proverb goes, when heaven falls, it falls on everyone; the rain has no enemy.

Caligula reigned until his own guards turned on him. Tyranny and rebellion are monozygotic twins. Let today’s plotters of a one-party Nigeria take note.

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, in “How Democracies Die” (2018), explain it best: democracies rarely collapse through external invasion. They are destroyed from within, through the slow erosion of norms and the ambitions of authoritarian leaders. Nigeria is walking that path again.

Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams, in How to Win Elections in Africa (2017), observe that political parties in Nigeria are not built on coherent ideology but on opportunism. The APC, they argue, never stood on any deep philosophy; it merely capitalized on the weaknesses of the PDP. That explains why even serving PDP governors are defecting in droves to join it. But what exactly is the attraction? To answer that, let us revisit one of our old moonlight tales.

Long ago, when animals behaved like humans, Ikún, the deaf squirrel, desired to live as long as mortals. It went to a diviner to seek the Oracle’s blessing.

The divination was swift and stern: for Ikún to live long, it must avoid anything sweet that came from the enemy.

Ikún protested. Why should it shun sweet things when everyone knew it delighted in them?

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Tinubu And His Northern Teachers

The Oracle replied with finality: What is sweet kills faster than anything else.

Ikún left, troubled. It wondered who its enemy could be. The only one that came to mind was the groundnut farmer, whose produce it relished. Resolving to obey the warning, Ikún avoided the groundnut farm.

The farmer soon noticed that Ikún no longer raided his crops. Suspicious, he tried several tricks. He attempted to smoke Ikún out of its burrow, but failed—for as elders say, òrò burúkú kii ká ikún mó’lé (misfortune never meets the squirrel at home). He tried hunting it at night, but that too failed—for ikún kii jé l’óru (the squirrel never ventures out at night).

At last, the farmer set a trap, using ripe banana as bait. The fruit was carefully placed over the blade, waiting to spring at the slightest tug.

Not long after, Ikún wandered by and spotted the banana. Overjoyed, it rushed forward. Banana was a delicacy, and its sweetness irresistible. Ikún took a bite, wagged its tail, and forgot all about the Oracle’s warning. It bit again, wagged its tail, and then tried to carry the whole banana away.

In a flash, the trap snapped. Ikún was caught between the jaws of death. Too late, it realised the truth: the sweet gift from the enemy was a lure to destruction. With its dying breath, it remembered the Oracle’s words.

Our elders, who preserved this tale, summed it up in the saying: ikun ńjẹ ògèdè, ikún ńrè’dí; ikún ò mọ̀ pé ohun tó dùn mà únpa ènìyàn (the squirrel wags its tail while eating banana, not knowing that what is sweet is what kills a man).

And that, precisely, is what the defecting governors are doing today. The banana from the ruling APC is sweet, but beneath its sweetness lies a deadly trap.